Winter Wonderland
Aubrey
The snow didn’t increase during the night, but something about the swift change in weather feels off. My dragon doesn’t like it, and he’s rarely wrong. As we all eat, I watch everyone laughing and ribbing one another good naturedly with satisfaction. I’ll never admit it to Fitzgerald, but he was right from the beginning when he said Dolly was the missing piece to our band of misfits. I feel the beast inside me grumble in agreement, my lips twitching in amusement.
Dragons aren’t fond of being wrong, so he doesn’t want me to say anything, either.
Chester makes a special pot of coffee for me because I enjoy it dark and bitter—so much so that no one else will drink it. It’s reminiscent of my earliest home, so it comforts me and I sip that as Fitz tells a story that makes snack size giggle. The Raj is looking on fondly while Chess spoons more food onto her plate while she’s not looking. Their fussiness over her training is amusing and I can see my mate caught the cheetah’s sneaky move as well.
“If the snow stays this calm, I bet a little flight over the winter wonderland would be fun,” Rennie says with a twinkle in his eye. His gaze meets mine and I roll my eyes when I realize he’s pushing me to agree.
Meddling damn gargoyle.
Clearing my throat, I nod. “That seems possible if you bundle up well.”
Dolly’s eyes widen and she claps in excitement. “Just you and me, big guy? Really?”
I have to fight to keep my expression neutral because I expected Rennie to come along. But no, she thought I meant alone and now if I say no, she’ll think I don’t want to be alone with her. It’s not true, for one thing, but also, I’m not used to someone besides my mate wanting to spend solo time with me. Chester helps me research and such, but that’s because we work well together, not because he’s excited to deal with my grumpy ass.
“Sure, lunchable. Why not?” I smile at her, gauging her response as I sip my coffee. “Since you’re the only one my dragon likes to have on its back, I don’t see why not.”
Fitz crosses his arms over his chest, pouting. “This is bullshit, you grouchy Gila Monster. I wanna fly, too.”
“Fitz… don’t be a brat,” Felix chides as he shakes his head. “You get alone time with the Princess all the time. Aubrey doesn’t claim it very often.”
Chess tilts his head, thinking for a moment. “He’s right. Aubrey’s a good team player, baby. He can take you flying another time. I’m sure my angel can convince him.”
A smug grin spreads over the bunny’s face as she winks at him. “I definitely can. I’m very persuasive when I want to be.”
That makes me snort and everyone laughs in response. We all know she has us by the short and curlies whenever she chooses. “We’ll see, bite size. Why don’t you go bundle up in the snowsuit from last year while we clean up? I’ll be warm no matter what, but we don’t want you catching a cold.”
She rolls her eyes and sticks her tongue out. “Yes, sir!”
My nose wrinkles as I grumble into my coffee. “How many times do I have to say that doesn’t work on me?”
“Until you believe it,” Rennie says as he pats my shoulder. “Should only take another century or so.”
Bastard.
Somehow, I’d forgotten how excellent my mate is at dressing people. Maybe it was because our bunny’s friends took over the role most of the time now, but the way Dolly’s curves are hugged by the pink snowsuit Rennie got her last year makes me swallow hard. All I can think about is that she’ll be riding on my back in the sky in that thing and I have made a distinctly grave error.
Motherfucker.
“Something wrong, big guy?” Our girl walks up to me, her brows knitted as she puts a hand on my arm. “We can cancel if you’re worried about the whole ‘magic snow’ thing. I know you’ll take me later.”
I shake my head, tongue thick as I try to force words out. “No. I mean, yes , I’m concerned about the sudden weather change, but… You look tasty, that's all.”
The smile that lights her features is fucking magical all on its own and she squeezes my bicep. “I like it when you get flustered, Lord Draconis . It makes me feel less like an inexperienced waif.”
“A… what?!” I sputter. I can’t argue Dolly was na?ve when she started at Apex and her breadth of experience with much of the shifter world had been limited, but I’ve never thought of her like that. I don’t believe any of us have.
Has she been fretting over that this whole time?
A shadow of insecurity flitters through her eyes and I know I’m right. Besides the glimpses of the body dysmorphia her mother and her friends instilled in her, there’s a deep fear that she’s hiding. Our brave, tough bunny has a small bundle of doubt buried inside of her—one that’s telling her she’s not good enough, not sexy enough, and not going to keep us interested forever. A voice in her mind is whispering that she’s a distraction or fixation that will fade someday and she’ll be alone.
I want—no, I need— to fix that. My dragon thumps inside of me, agreeing; he doesn’t even like our future mate hurting herself, it seems. Clenching my fists at my sides to keep from scaring her, I wait for her to answer my question. When she shrugs and looks away, I make a decision. She needs to know I’m all in like Fitzgerald and Rennie. I’m going to do something I’ve only done once before, but it might be the answer I was looking for in the Shird.
We’re taking a slightly longer trip than I planned before.
“Make sure you have a hat, snack size. I don’t want you getting frostbite on your ears. Gloves, too, for that matter.”
Renard lifts his head from the tablet he was entranced with on the couch, his eyes narrowing. He knows I’ve switched gears because she shouldn’t need that much for a short jaunt around the campus. “Would you like me to join you? I don’t mind breaking from the scans of the texts Chess made for me.”
That’s when I notice the pen and notebook next to him. He must be working on translating what he can from the High Fae texts. It’s important we find out what we’re up against, so despite craving support during this crazy idea, I shake my head. “No, keep working. Lunchable and I are going to spend some quality time on our own.”
“As long as it doesn’t involve breaking furniture this time,” mumbles Felix from his spot on the opposite side of the couch. “We’d never get the replacement here in time for the semester.”
Glaring at the tiger as he pretends not to be amused with his barb, I huff a smoke ring. They really plan on poking me about that damn night for the rest of time. I blame Fitz for this and I will get my revenge on that psycho in due time. “Very funny, Raj. I note you’re all looking comfortable on the bare cushions since Raina hasn’t brought the coverings back from the laundry yet. You’re lucky Rennie got Percy to bribe the staff to work over break to clean them.”
His answer is a smirk and I’m about to retort when Dolly clears her throat. “It’s too cold outside for you all to wave your dicks around, so that’s where we’ll be going now. Don’t wait up!”
I chuckle as she turns on her heel, obviously recovered from her moment of self-doubt. It’s funny as fuck that putting one or all of us in our place seems to clear that shit right up, but I’ll take it. I didn’t like the aura of uncertainty surrounding her before and I’m glad she’s riled up instead.
Hopefully, this little trip will help ease her worry even more.
The chill in the air doesn’t bother me—the heat from my internal fire keeps me toasty—but I’m glad I had Dolly bundle up. She’s wrapped around me, absorbing it through her winter garb with the small pack on her back as we fly high above the radar of any human or supe towards our destination. I told her we were escaping somewhere farther away than just the edges of campus, but I haven’t revealed to her or the others exactly where I’m taking her.
Fitz is likely tracking her with his computer like an obsessed fan, anyway, so I’m not worried they won’t be able to find us if need be.
My dragon grumbles at that, not liking the idea of anyone being able to pinpoint this location. We’re headed to a very special place and it isn’t easy for me to overcome my natural urge to keep what’s here wrapped in a cloak of secrecy. Dragons are hoarders from the moment they crack the shell of their eggs and we do not allow the knowledge of what or where we store our treasures to become public, even to our clash. The human authors typically get that part right when they attempt to discuss us, but they often assign a spectacular, unignorable stronghold as the hiding spot which defeats the purpose.
Soft lips brush my scales as our girl murmurs near my tympanum, “I won’t ask where you’re taking me, big guy, but I am very curious. Plus, you’re like a million degrees under these scales and I know that means you’re excited.”
My dragon huffs and I smile at the puff of visible air it creates in the cold. He likes that she accepts our form this way, without a whit of hesitation, despite it being much less humanoid than Rennie or familiar like the cats. We’re bigger than all of them in full shift—though our gargoyle mate is taller—and bite size is barely the size of our head, but she hasn’t ever seemed put off or scared.
That’s a first—most wyverns and many dragons aren’t as big as those who are destined to become kings of their clashes.
A hand pats the side of my face and she leans in again, “I’m not sure how I know, but if you’re thinking I should be scared of you, I think I told you the first day we met that I’m not. I wasn’t when you had that tantrum and I’m not thirty thousand feet in the air, Aubrey. You’re a good man and your animal does not dictate the depth of evil. Look at my asshole mother.”
That earns her another huff, this one laughter, as my dragon delights in her acceptance. I’m also not sure how she knew what I was thinking about, but I’m delighted that she did. It makes my decision to share this with her feel even more right and now my animal agrees completely. He’s recognized her as his for a long time; bringing her to the place where this life began is simply another step towards making that claim real.
“Hold on tight,” I rumble. The sound of my voice in this form makes her shiver and I internally groan. This trip isn’t about fucking the shit out of her, but if she doesn’t stop that adorable shit, I won’t be able to stop myself.
Who am I kidding? I’m lucky to stop myself even when she’s being a brat, much less compliant.
“What is this place?” She gasps as I dive downward, aiming for the specially reinforced landing spot on the west tower. “Holy fuck, Aubrey.”
I don’t answer as we shoot down to the ankh carved into the stone that I use as my beacon. It took many, many years of fucking shit up before I found a way to strengthen the spot I use to keep my large form a secret so it wouldn’t get destroyed. The amount of times this particular tower has been renovated and rebuilt because I wasn’t careful is more than I’ll admit out loud, but now, it’s design has been perfected. My clawed feet touch down and I shake the snow off of my wings with a roar of pride. Lowering one into the position, I turn my head to watch our bunny slide to the ground with a giggle of happiness.
“Aubrey, this is a castle . You brought me to the tower of a castle . You’re a fire-breathing dragon. ”
Looking at her in confusion, I tilt my large head and tuck my wings against my body as I watch her cover her mouth and almost dance with joy. “So?”
She literally cackles as she spins around in a circle with her arms out, her long rainbow hair flying around her amid the snowflakes. In her bright pink ski outfit, she’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen and my dragon is equally entranced.
“How do you not get it?”
When I don’t answer, just look at her like a very confused lizard, she giggles again and pretends to curtsey.
Perhaps she’s light headed from the flying?
“Aubrey, you just made me Princess Peach. And I’m standing on top of Bowser’s Castle.”
I blink.
Oh, Fitz is never going to let this one go.